2. Word-form derivation

There are 3 types of word-form derivation:

1) Synthetic;

2) Analytical;

3) Sound alternative;

4) Suppletive formation (addition).

1. The number of morphemes used for derived word-form in Modern English is very small (much smaller than in Russian and German). They may be enumerated:

1) There is the ending -s with 3 variants of pronunciation used to form the plural number of almost all nouns. The ending -en, -ren may be used for the same purpose.

2) There is the ending 's with 3 variants of pronunciation used to form the genitive case of nouns.

3) For adjectives there are the endings -er, -est for the degrees of comparative.

4) -s, -es for the 3rd person singular, the endings -d, -ed for the past tense of certain verbs; -d, -ed - for the Past Participle of certain verbs; -n, -en - for the certain other verbs; -ing - for the Participle I and Gerund.

The total number of morphemes used to derived forms of words is 11. It would be noted that most of these endings are monosemantic. The plural -s, -es denotes only the category of plural number and has nothing to do with any other grammatical category (the category of case). But not all English morphemes are monosemantic. This is certain not the case with -s, -es of the 3rd person singular, because it expresses at least 3 grammatical category (the category of person, number, mood). In certain verbs it also expresses the category of tense. In the verb 'puts' it shows that it is a present tense form.

2) It’s the usage of a word derivation of any lexical meaning of its own to express some grammatical category of another word. There is no doubt about analytical character of such formations as 'has invited', 'is invited', 'is inviting'. The verbs: have, be, do - have no lexical meaning of its own in these cases. The lexical meaning of the formations resides in the participle and infinitive following the verbs: have, be, do. We can add: shall, will - and say that all these verbs constitute a typical feature of the analytical structure of Modern English.

3) it's the changing of the form of the word which consists in changing a sound inside the root. This method applies in English nouns and much more used in verbs: write - wrote - written.

4) It's building a form of a verb of a different stem: go - went - gone. We can add here the personal pronoun I and its objective case me; the adjectives with its comparison degree (good - better) and in Modern English suppletives are very rare elements, but they concern a few very widely used words among adjectives, pronouns, verbs.

3. The notion of oppositions

Main morphological notions:

Grammatical category

Grammatical form

Grammatical meaning

Grammatical category is a unity of 2 or more grammatical forms which are correlated or opposed by their grammatical meaning, they form themselves (are identified within definite paradigmatic series (грамматическое значение закреплено за данным набором форм).

Paradigm is example or pattern (the declination of a verb). Professor Bloch defines the grammatical as a system of expressing a generalized grammatical meaning by means of paradigmatic correlation of grammatical forms.

Grammatical category comprises not loss than 2 opposed forms or even more. There exist 3 forms of tense, 4 verbal forms, 2 member forms of nouns, 2 voices (active, passive).

12.10.12

The oppositions are obligatory but the oppositions are used binary, though the most important type is binary opposition.

The binary opposition

It is formed by a constructive pair of a certain different feature. The other member is characterized by the absence of this feature. The member in which the feature is present is called the marked (strong, positive) member of opposition. The other member is called unmarked (weak, negative). The 1st member is designated by '+', the 2nd - '-',

E.g. books '+', book '-'

Morphological opposition

It must reflect both the plan of expression (план выражения) and the plan of content (план содержания). Morphological opposition is based on a morphological different feature which is present in its strong member and is absent in its weak member. One member of the opposition is marked positively and the other member – negatively,

E.g. -s is a different feature of the opposition singular/plural (girl '+' - girls '-')

'Equipollent (равнозначный) opposition

It is confined to formal relations. The example of such an opposition is in the correlation of the person forms of the verb 'to be' (am, is, are).

Gradual oppositions

It can be found at the semantic level only,

E.g. the category of comparison of adjectives (strong - stronger - the strongest)

Professor Bloch admits the system of opposition in theory of grammar of Modern English. The theory of opposition is basic conception of the representatives of the structural American grammar. Among our linguists: Smirnitsky, Barkhudarov, Ilyish, who usually use this term in their scientific research. Such linguists as Admony, Jartseva, and Bondarko never use this term in their scientific works.

Grammatical meaning is general abstract meaning which unites large classes of words and is expressed by formal indicates or by absence of them,

E.g. there's the meaning of plurality. In different languages it's expressed in different ways.